Gotta be Love
by lovablegeek
Summary: [PreRENT] There has to be a reason Mark puts up with them. Could be MarkBennyRoger or any combination thereof if you like, but mainly platonic. [One shot]


**A/N:** For challenge #11 at speedrent on LJ. The prompt was to use Mark's line from the movie as the first line… which is why it's there. I swear I'm not just stealing random movie lines because I felt like it and turning them into fics. PreRent-ness with just the three boys, so don't ask me where Collins or Maureen or anyone else are. They don't live here yet. So there.

* * *

"You know, there are times that we're dirt broke and hungry and freezing and I ask myself… why the hell am I still living here?"

Benny glanced across the couch at Mark, seemingly unsure how to respond to the non sequitur. For the past hour, the three of them had said hardly anything, putting most of their attention to not freezing to death in the unheated loft… Trust Mark to say something like that completely out of the blue. "Because we couldn't afford anywhere else?" he ventured at last.

Cross-legged on the table with a blanket draped around his shoulders, Roger smirked and commented wryly, "You know, there are times when Mark says things that are completely random and he just goes on and on, and I ask myself… why the hell do I still listen to him?"

Benny snorted and ducked his head, his shoulders shaking with silent laughter, while Mark leveled an altogether unimpressive glare at Roger. Naturally, Roger only responded with a smug smile and easily ducked the pillow Mark threw at him—which flew wide anyway. Mark sighed. "I can't ever say anything serious without you two being smartasses, can I?"

Roger kept a completely straight face as he answered, "No, Mark. You can't. That's just what we do, and it's a fact of life you should know by now." He paused and considered a moment, then amended, "Well, it's what _I _do, at least. I'm a smartass—Benny's just an ass."

"Gee, thanks, Roger," Benny responded with a sardonic smile. "I feel loved now."

"Any time," Roger said, grinning, and looked up abruptly as Mark sighed and got to his feet. "Where're you going?"

"I'm getting a blanket," Mark said as if the answer should be obvious, giving Roger a flat look. "In case you hadn't noticed, it's freezing in here."

"Yeah, that's the problem with not having central heating," Benny remarked.

Roger chuckled softly and added, "Or, you know, _any _kind of heating…"

Mark paused in the doorway to his bedroom, just staring at the two of them for a second in a kind of incredulity. "I think the question is rapidly becoming why the hell I still put up with you two."

As Mark turned away again and stepped into the bedroom, Benny answered, "Because you can't afford not to."

"Because we're just that charming!" Roger called, raising his voice a little so Mark could hear him in the other room.

Mark emerged from the bedroom, clutching an oversized and slightly ragged quilt around his shoulders. "You're insane!" he countered, and walked over to flop on the couch beside Benny, spreading the blanket over both of them to conserve heat. "And a pain in the ass besides."

"But you still love us," Roger said confidently, smirking at Mark.

Mark rolled his eyes and decided not to answer. Benny freed a hand from the blanket and beckoned Roger over to the couch. "If you're going to be annoying, you could at least get over here and help keep us warm before we all freeze to death."

"Benny, you're wearing about… five sweaters and a jacket."

"_Three _sweaters, and I'm still cold. Get over here."

Roger rolled his eyes and kicked his feet off the table after a moment, standing to cross the room and sit down next to Mark, on the opposite side from Benny, close enough to share body heat. "We won't _freeze_," he said scornfully.

Pulling his feet up so the blanket would cover them, Mark muttered, "I'm not so sure about that. I can barely feel my toes."

"You're such a baby, Mark."

Briefly, Mark considered trying to cuff Roger on the side of the head, but decided it wasn't worth expending the energy. Instead, he shifted a little closer to Benny, glad for the warmth of the other two on both sides of him. "Let's see, it's freezing cold, we've barely eaten today, you're _mocking _me… and yet I choose to stay here. Yeah, that's gotta be love."


End file.
